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What I wear has always been a sign to my children what the day has in store for them.

"Why are you dressed up," my older daughter asks as she lazily pulls the comforter around her with one hand and rubs her eyes with the other hand.

"Because I'm working today," I say, knowing full well that she already knows the answer to this question.

"Why?" She asks pulling the comforter over her head to block the light. "I thought you were off today," she says in a muffled, disgruntled tone.

However, if I enter her room in shorts and a T-shirt, all is right with the world. I am suddenly "Fun-Mommy" who is rewarded with a smile and sometimes even a hug as the promise of a day shared together stretches out before us.

The other day I stopped to have breakfast with my youngest daughter on the way to summer camp. It was a 100-degree day, and I was heading directly from work to her swim meet. Dressing for both work and a swim meet is very hard to do, but with so little time in between I have few options.

"Is that what you're wearing to the swim meet?" she asked me, looking me up and down from head to toe.

"Yes, why?" I asked as I looked down at my summer blouse, swingy black skirt and sandals.

"I guess it's OK. It's better that those other skirts you wear that make you walk like this," she said as she imitated me walking with my legs pressed tightly together. She was also hobbling, I presume, to indicate high heels.

I couldn't help but grin at my eight-year-old's very spot-on imitation of me.

"But are you really going to wear that to work?" she said pointing to the Hello Kitty Band-Aid on my knee.

She had me there.

Amanda is the mom of two, a reporter for WRAL-TV and the author of several books including two on motherhood. Find her here on Mondays.

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